it was fascination, i know

we've talked endlessly about the west's fascination with japanese prints, and some about the inverse. but only very little about the world's fascination with the world's fascination with japanese prints. and the fascination with the people fascinated with the western posters produced by those fascinated with the japanese prints. if you get what i mean.

the woodblock prints are featured in many of william merritt chase's prints that have been featured here; in keeping with the contemporary vogue for Japonisme, Chase adopted Japanese props. He often tilted the picture plane and cropped the composition, devices common to Japanese prints. 1

and note the delight and thoughtfulness with which these viewers are depicted.

we've also met robert blum. this piece was likely painted while he was in japan. is she viewing degas or utamaro?

and on the right, self paints self viewing self. in another costume?

click on the image to be transported to another realm.

i wish i could tell exactly what is being looked at in these images. in most of them, you can if the print or poster is eastern or western, but in how many of them are the creators showing their own work being viewed?

is this poster being viewed a third known image by otto fischer?

Leonnec was to Rene Vincent what Gene Vincent was to Elvis--a gifted emulator, lacking the emotive depth and range of the great one, but offering works of unique, very effective quirkiness. Whereas Rene Vincent could charm with a cosmopolitan dash, Leonnec mined the humor and poignancy of a rustic France coming up against the modern world. 2

i think it's pretty clear manuel robbe had his viewers viewing themselves. or each other. he has many images similar to these; sometimes the women are poring over pieces of music or picture books. was it possible for them to look at prints of themselves looking at prints?

the spa- nish and the po- lish lov- ed the japanese.

the germans loved the italians and the french loved, well, the french. and we all know tissot's love of those loving the japanese.

and therefore, what we have here is your fascination watching my fascination with artists whose fascination with prints drove them to create images of people fascinated with images of... themselves?

so what else is new?

what we remember

michael often speaks about the fact that there are many wonderful artists from the past out there that just aren't known by many people at all today.












i think of his comments frequently as i go through various books, various collections. so many artists that i've never heard of, after studying this area for decades, and of whom only a tiny bit of work remains.









for many, the only work of theirs that is remembered, reprinted, is from Les Maîtres de l'Affiche. because they received a life outside of their lives as posters, they remain.










but i'm grateful that any remain at all. look at her blue eyes. see the whole collection at the nypl.


(the only remaining image i could find by alice r. glenny; the only image i could find by fred hyland; only two from otto fischer.)